The sponge-dwelling snapping shrimps (Crustacea, Decapoda, Alpheidae, Synalpheus) of Discovery Bay, Jamaica, with descriptions of four new species
Author
Iii, Kenneth S Macdonald
Author
Hultgren, Kristin
Author
Duffy, Emmett
text
Zootaxa
2009
2199
1
57
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.189568
c668ee01-6eff-451a-9b96-be6f14b35edc
1175-5326
189568
Synalpheus sanctithomae
Coutière
Material examined.
Jamaica
: non-ovigerous individual, ovigerous female (
VIMS
08JAM0101,02), Columbus Park, Discovery Bay, from canals of
Hyattella intestinalis
. Non-ovigerous individual, ovigerous female (
VIMS
08JAM0704,05), Columbus Park, Discovery Bay, from canals of
H. intestinalis
. Nonovigerous individual (
VIMS
08JAM1901), Pear Tree Bottom Reef, from canals of
H. intestinalis
. Nonovigerous individual (
VIMS
08JAM4301), fore-reef (near M1 channel marker), Discovery Bay, from canals of unidentified white tube sponge. MaxCL ovigerous female:
3.93 mm
. MaxCL non-ovigerous individual:
3.24 mm
.
Color.
Faint to bright orange; distal portion of major chela more intensely orange; ovaries and embryos green.
Hosts and ecology.
In
Jamaica
, we found pairs of
S. sanctithomae
most commonly inhabiting
Hyattella intestinalis
, but one individual was also discovered in an unidentified, white tube sponge. In other regions,
S. sanctithomae
is commonly found in
Hymeniacidon caerulea
,
H. intestinalis
and
Agelas
cf.
clathrodes
.
Distribution.
Florida,
USA
(
Gore 1981
);
Virgin Islands
(
Coutière 1909
);
Belize
(Macdonald et al. 2006;
Ríos and Duffy 2007
);
Brazil
(
Christoffersen 1979
);
Jamaica
(this study).
REMARKS:
Synalpheus sanctithomae
is easily distinguishable from its morphologically closest relative (
Synalpheus mcclendoni
) by the uncurved, short fingers of the major chela, and by the lack of the fan of 10 or more setae emanating from the distal margin of the telson in the latter species. It is distinguishable from
S. irie
n. sp.
by the lack of the distal setal fan on the telson, and the different shape of both the fingers and the protuberance of the major chela.